Chapters Author's Note
Though as the damage was nearly done, all had been forgiven. But what would happen if the consequences will catch up to you, or that the truth would come to light over the reasons these things happened. Let us find out.
A friend in turmoil
It had been almost a month since the whole memory stone dilemma. Everyone had a hard time grasping over what happened, and they had learnt not to ask. For if anyone recalls, a certain girl who loved plants, Wallflower Blush, was jealous of Sunset Shimmer’s popularity from a bully to a beloved friend. She used the memory stone to erase everyone at CHS’ good memory of her to teach her a lesson. But thanks to both Princess Twilight and Trixie, she was able to deduced that she was responsible.
She confronted her, only to sacrifice herself to save her friends when Wallflower ended up erasing her memories. Thanks to the power of their friendship, they were able to destroy the memory stone before things got worst and their memories were restored. Ashamed, Wallflower apologized to Sunset for what she had done, with Sunset doing the same, realizing that even though she was no longer a bully, she still wasn’t nice to her, even if she didn’t realize it. She helped Wallflower realize that everyone matters, no matter how insignificant or invisible they feel. The two of them became friends and all was fine in the world.
However, during that month, whilst everyone was able to forgive her, she suddenly felt sad again, and couldn’t eat her food as she was in the cafeteria. She rested her head on her left hand whilst her right hand was holding her fork and twiddled with her food instead of eating it. Thankfully, her silence didn’t go unnoticed.
‘Wallflower, are you okay?’
She then noticed that the person who spoke to her are Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy. All of them who noticed that she looked very sad for some time.
‘Oh, hey girls.’ said Wallflower as she still stared at her food.
‘You’ve been awfully quiet darling.’ said Rarity as she looked at Wallflower with concern.
‘Yeah,’ said Applejack ‘Y’all are more silent than a sloth on a good day.’
‘Not to mention the sad frown.’ said Twilight as she pointed it out.
‘Which should be turned upside down.’ said Pinkie Pie with her usual glee of a smile.
‘I’m not in much of a smiling mood.’ said Wallflower, much to Pinkie’s dismay.
‘It’s alright Wallflower.’ said Fluttershy ‘We’re your friends too.’
‘Yeah,’ said Rainbow Dash ‘We’d never leave anybody hanging.’
Wallflower then sighed, then presented her arm to Sunset, much to her confusion.
‘Go ahead,’ said Wallflower, leaving Sunset puzzled. ‘I know you’re going to read my mind anyway. Might as well get it over with.’
Sunset shrugged and decided to do just that. Just as she touched Wallflower’s arm, her eyes instantly glowed.
Flashback through Wallflower’s eyes
Wallflower was happily busy trying to place most of her things away, until she was startled when it was forced closed. Next to her, was a boy with the same skin color like her, but with a neatly cut emerald green hair, wearing a short sleeved black shirt with a hand on top of it, with fingerless brown gloves, blue jeans, brown shoes and had violet eyes. And he did not look happy.
‘Whoa, Handy, I…’ said Wallflower as she was surprised.
‘We need to talk sister,’ said the boy named Handy ‘Now.’
They were at the garden, where Wallflower had just finished setting up her garden. She had just finished telling him of what she did a month ago.
‘Why would you do that?!’ shouted Handy ‘She never did anything to you, and you do this behind her back?!’
‘I just wanted to teach her a lesson.’ said Wallflower as she tried to defend herself ‘She didn’t even know me so I wanted her friends to not know her so that she could know what it feels like.’
‘Oh, come on now, that’s not fair.’ said Handy as he tried to defend Sunset. ‘Yes, she may have been popular from bully to friend, but she didn’t ask to be popular. When she was a bully, she was in a dark place. But because of Princess Twilight, she was able to help Sunset, she even asked her friends to help her. And after the whole ordeal, she worked very hard to earn everyone else’s trusts back. She apologized, she made up for what she did, helped repair everyone’s friendships, even opened up of what was bothering her, or the fact that all of them are comforting her because she doesn’t have any family here in this world. And maybe you would’ve noticed that if you hadn’t kept shutting yourself out from everybody.’
‘That’s not fair.’ said Wallflower.
‘Neither was erasing everyone else’s memory of Sunset and all the good she did by using a magical artifact that you had no idea on how to control.’ said Handy. ‘Didn’t you even realize what that once did to Sunset and Twilight in the past?’
Wallflower was silent for a moment, but Handy continued with his talk to her.
‘If you had even paid close attention, which you didn’t do,’ said Handy ‘She saved everybody. She helped her friends saved us from the Dazzlings, from Twilight’s magical rampage because of Crystal Prep, helped saved everyone at Camp Everfree from Gloriosa’s episode, even saved the Camp from being turned into a Spa and not to mention helped Juniper Montage see a new light and became her friend when she needed one the most.’
‘How would you…?’ said Wallflower before her brother cut her off.
‘I know because I was there.’ said Handy, which surprised her. ‘I went to Camp Everfree with Canterlot High, which I tried to convince you to join, but you kept shutting yourself out, as usual.’
He then stood close her as he said ‘Everybody was able to give her a chance to make up for her mistakes and gave her a chance to earn their trusts, why couldn’t you do the same?!!’
Handy then walked away until Wallflower stopped him as she said ‘I only did what I thought was necessary to…’
Handy then swatted her hand away, much to her surprise as he said ‘Don’t.’ whilst pointing at her.
She was at first stunned the way he shunned her like that, but he said his piece as he said ‘Necessary, means you didn’t have any other choice. What you did to Sunset by using her friends as guinea pigs like that? That wasn’t necessary. And you know it.’
He then walked away as he gripped his fists, and ended up stepping onto one of her favorite flowers, much to her shock as she tried to save it. She watched him walk away, with her feeling greatly distraught.
Back to reality
Sunset was finished as her eyes were widened in shock from both things. One, Wallflower has a brother. Two, that he was furious at her for using the Memory Stone. However, she was more focused on the now.
‘Handy is your brother?’ asked Sunset.
‘Handy?’ said the rest of the girls.
However, Pinkie was the first to catch up with widened eyes as she said ‘You’re brother is Handy Helper?’
The rest of the girls were surprised to hear this.
‘Oh, ah know Handy.’ said Applejack when she remembered him. ‘He always come by to the farm to see if any of our farming equipment were up to date. He even did a great job fixin’ Big Mac’s pickup truck.’
‘He even helped make special feeding stations for the animals at the shelter.’ said Fluttershy, which made her giggle as she said ‘He even made some special speakers for them so that they could play them lullaby songs for them every night.’
‘He even helped me set up the display for my latest creation,’ said Rarity, then she giggled too as she remembered that one specific time he helped her ‘He even makes such wonderful snicker doodles.’
‘You think that’s handy.’ said Rainbow Dash as she remembered one specific time he helped her. ‘He helped fix our sports equipment and also helped made sure we were hydrated before we practice for the next big game. The Wondercolts can never get tired to his famous energy drinks.’
Pinkie then drooled as she remembered Handy too. ‘He even made me those yummy cupcakes as thanks for giving some cupcakes to him at his workplace. His fellow employees were really grateful for them.’
‘Handy even helped me fix most of my equipment in my lab when they last broke down.’ said Twilight as she remembered him fondly the last time they saw each other.
‘Yeah, that’s him.’ said Wallflower, still thinking about the confrontation between the two of them.
‘Did something happen between you two?’ asked Rarity.
‘They had a bit of a falling out.’ said Sunset ‘Apparently he’s angry at her for using the memory stone and erasing everyone else’s minds of me.’
They were surprised that he knew about it. ‘He knew about that there memory stone?’
‘He even knows Princess Twilight.’ said Sunset, much to the others’ surprise.
‘So what happened?’ asked Pinkie Pie ‘Did they have a fight or something?’
‘Uh, I don’t wanna go into details,’ said Sunset as she rubbed the back of her head ‘But it ended with him saying, quote, “What you did to Sunset by using her friends as guinea pigs. That wasn’t necessary, and you know it.”, end quote.’
‘Hoo boy.’ said Applejack, which the others were still surprised from Handy Helper’s last response. ‘When a sibling says something like that to their own, that’s a likely hood of saying that things are really bad between them.’
‘He won’t even accept my apology, even after I tried.’ said Wallflower as she had the look of defeat on her face.
‘Then we’re gonna help you get to the bottom of this.’ said Pinkie Pie as she stood up.
‘I agree,’ said Rarity ‘I may not know what really happened between you two, but having siblings arguing with one another simply won’t do.’
‘We’ll talk to Principle Celestia to ask him to come to her office,’ said Twilight ‘Then we’ll be able to figure out what’s wrong.’
‘You girls would really do that?’ asked Wallflower.
‘Of course.’ said Sunset as she smiled whilst placing her hand on Wallflower’s shoulder ‘You’re our friend. The least we can do is help you out.’
Wallflower couldn’t help but smile as she greatly appreciates their help. ‘Thank you girls.’
‘Don’t thank us yet until we help solve a problem.’ said Pinkie in her positive go by attitude.
Revealing the hand in your deck
From down one of the halls of Canterlot High, a certain someone, named Handy Helper, walked alongside Micro Chips, who was completely grateful and happy that Handy helped him fix his robots, for he couldn’t believe he overlooked something so obvious.
‘Thanks again for helping me Handy.’ said the smiling Micro Chips ‘I couldn’t have done this without you.’
‘Least I could do after you helped me fixing my computers back at my shop Micro.’ said Handy Helper whilst he was wiping his face with his sweat cloth.
‘No problem,’ said Micro Chips ‘I had no idea that you were able to open a shop at such a young age.’
‘Well I wouldn’t exactly…’ said Handy until he was cut off.
‘Handy Helper, please report to the Principal’s office.’ said Principle Celestia ‘Handy Helper to the Principal’s office please.’
The two of them looked rather surprised by this.
‘What does the principle want with you?’ asked Micro Chips.
‘Don’t know,’ said Handy ‘Only one way to find out. Luckily we’re close.’
The two of them walked to the Principle’s door. They stopped as the two of them looked at one another. ‘Maybe they need me to help them fix something.’ said Handy.
‘Well,’ said Micro Chips as he thought about it ‘You did help fix half of the school, and they surprisingly look brand new.’
‘Nope, it’s better than new.’ said Handy as he reminded them, causing the two to chuckle, for it’s really a handy slogan to use.
Handy then opened the door as he walked in ‘I’m sure there’s nothing to…’
He stopped and saw both Principle Celestia and Vice-Principle Luna, who had somewhat concerned faces. And the fact that Sunset and her friends were in the office too. However, the one that sat at the corner on a chair, was Wallflower. And that immediately left his face turned to slow anger.
‘What are you doing here?’ he said in a cold tone.
Wallflower winced at this, but the others were surprised by this, as were the principle and vice-principle, for they had no idea it was that bad, especially Micro Chips.
‘Handy, please.’ said Principle Celestia as she gestured that he should calm down. ‘We called you here because we were concerned about recent events.’
‘If you would please come in,’ said Vice-Principle Luna ‘We would like to uncover why you were cold to Wallflower recently.’
Handy sighed in frustration. He slowly looked at Micro as he said ‘I’ll be right back.’
He walked in the room and closed the door. However, Micro was concerned about him, so he pulled out a device that would allow him to listen in. But as he plugged it in and placed it against the wall, he accidentally hacked into the intercoms, allowing the entire school to hear it without the Principle knowing about it.
‘Please, take a seat.’ said Celestia, but he chose to stand, for he was not in the mood for this.
She cleared her throat as she tried to get to the bottom of things. ‘Now then, may we ask why you were being horrible to Wallflower lately?’
‘I got nothing to say to her, not after what she did.’ said Handy.
‘What did she do?’ asked Vice-Principle Luna.
Sunset decided to fill them in. ‘A while back whilst we were at Camp Everfree, Wallflower found a stone that could erase the memories of others. She used it to erase my friends and everyone in the entire school’s memories of me after I reformed, so they thought I was still a school bully. I tried to confront her, but she wouldn’t listen to reason. But after we destroyed the stone, all of their memories were restored.’
The two sisters were surprised to hear this as they looked at one another, then back to Sunset. ‘Why would she do that?’ asked Luna.
‘Because…’ said Sunset, but she didn’t want to hurt Wallflower any further, not after the trouble she went through to apologize to her.
Until Wallflower spoke and said ‘I wanted to get back at her by teaching her a lesson, so I stole everyone’s good memories of her so that people can see that she hadn’t changed.’
Now they were surprised. Not just them, but every student and teacher who heard her through the entire school because of Micro Chip’s device.
‘Wallflower,’ said Celestia, clearly disappointed, but trying to be fair to her. ‘Why would you do that? Everyone at CHS were able to forgive her. She tried to prove herself everyday that she’s not that person anymore. She’s trying to make things right.’
‘Indeed,’ said Luna as she spoke next ‘If you were having a problem, you should’ve talked to us about it.’
‘Why bother,’ said Handy as he gained their attention with his arms crossed ‘She was too much of a coward to open up to others.’
Wallflower then stood up as she was now mad. ‘Why are you always like this to me? You know very well I wasn’t comfortable talking to others. I wanted to teach Sunset a lesson because she made me feel invisible over the years.’
‘That’s no excuse for using everyone else her for your own jealousy.’ said Handy as he stood near her.
‘Why are you even defending her?’ asked Wallflower, wondering why her brother was cruel to her.
‘You still don’t get it, do you?’ said Handy.
‘Get what?’
‘Why I defended her.’
‘Oh please, do tell.’
‘She was the only one who was nice to me, the only one who told me to believe in myself. The only…’
Handy froze himself as he didn’t want to say it out loud, for it was really painful. But after a deep breath, he told her.
‘The only one, who comforted me after dad died.’
Now that part, took her by storm. And not just Wallflower, but everyone in the room, including the entire CHS when they heard him.
‘What?’ said Wallflower, the only word she could utter.
Celestia leaned forward as she asked ‘When did he…?’
‘Two years before the Fall Formal.’ said Handy, which surprised them, for it was a long time ago.
He faced Wallflower and continue where he left off. ‘After he died, mom ended up becoming a hot mess and couldn’t do anything. You ended up closing yourself off from everybody. I had to quit school just to look after the both of you.’
That part surprised everyone, quitting school just to find a job to provide for his family. That was a very responsible and determine young man.
‘Mom couldn’t do anything, so I had to sent her to the hospital, and yeah, it was that bad.’ said Handy, much to the others’ shock.
‘I had to arrange a funeral and made sure everything was arranged.’ said Handy ‘And I knew that we wouldn’t make it with mom out of commission, so I had to quit school and get a loan from the bank to start my business.’
They remembered that he owned a business store that said “Handy Helper’s fix and repair shop. You need something fixed, we can make them better than new”, which they never realized that within a year, it became a huge success because of his natural skills.
‘But for the past two years whilst the business was successful, it didn’t fill the void. The loss we all went through. And about a few days after the Fall Formal…’
Handy Helper stopped again, not wanting to speak anymore. But he pushed himself as he said ‘I was this close into committing suicide.’
That part, shocked them all, for they had no idea he felt this unhappy after his father died.
‘I would’ve if she hadn’t saved me.’ said Handy as he pointed at Sunset, which took her by surprise. She remembered meeting him, but Handy was thankful enough that she didn’t see him carry a gun that he had concealed within his jacket.
‘She helped cheer me up, helped me to believe again, that I could still live a life if I just work hard enough. She encouraged me to continue helping others. And since that day, my life changed, she even helped me make friends, even convinced her friends to be my friends. And because of her encouragement, I was able to go to school again, but I chose Canterlot High, not only because you were there, but the friends she helped me make.’
Wallflower was confused at first when something was nagging at the back of her mind. ‘But if they did that, then why weren't you…’
‘Because you fool,’ said Handy as he said ‘Not only did you erase everyone’s memories of Sunset, you also erased my memories too.’
Wallflower was shocked that her brother was caught in the crossfire and she didn’t even realize it. However, Handy didn’t stop there as he said ‘And not only did you erase Sunset from my mind, but also the memory of every other friend she helped me ever make.’
The EG Mane 7 were shocked to hear this, even Sunset, for this was the first time she heard of it.
‘But that’s impossible.’ said Wallflower ‘I only focused on Sunset…’
‘It was because of Sunset that I had friends, because she convinced them to be my friend and even recommended me to them when they heard I could fix anything. But because of the fact that you used the memory stone, everything she ever did to help me make friends were gone, even the friends I ever made because of her.’
He then told him of what happened after his memories were erased.
‘I was close into committing suicide. But then I found a photo of Sunset in one of my journals, when we were hanging out at the Sweet Shoppe. I looked for her and when I saw her friends lashed out on her when they didn’t remember her, I felt heartbroken for some reason. And not just them, everyone in school felt the same way. So I followed both you and her.’
He gripped his hands, trying his best to contain his anger ‘Then I saw you at the back of the school, with that stone, and you wanted to erase all their memories of high school. What were your last words? Oh yes, “They’ll think of each other the way you think of me. Which is not at all.”, remember?’
Wallflower was shocked that her brother witnessed that. ‘You tried to erase the friendships they had with one another for years? All because you wanted to get back at her and not even give her a chance to apologize or even explain. But that’s not the worst part.’
He suddenly pulled out a note he had in his pant pocket. Then he read out loud ‘ “Sunset, we think the memory stone was buried under this rock formation. And if you don’t destroy the memory stone by the time the sun sets, today, all those memories, will be erased, forever”!’
As Handy tossed the paper away after he crumbled it, many were shocked and horrified. For if Sunset hadn’t stopped her, they would’ve lost their happiest memories of her, forever, even the Principle and her sister were shocked, along with Wallflower. But Sunset was shocked that he somehow knew that, for she received a message from Twilight from her journal.
He took a step forward as he said ‘You used that stone without thinking of the consequences or the people that would get hurt without them even knowing about it. And she has earned the right not to be called a jerk anymore. She worked hard to redeem herself and you nearly destroyed all of that.’
As Handy slowly took a few steps forward, Wallflower took a few steps back, as she stammered ‘But I…I, I d-didn’t mean…’
‘Didn’t meant to my foot!!’ shouted Handy in her face, causing Wallflower to fall backwards on a chair in shock, as she never seen her brother angry. Even the others were shocked to see what happened, with every student throughout the school as they heard him.
‘You tried to ruin her life when she didn’t do anything to you!!’ shouted Handy as he continued. ‘You don’t go around lying to me after you promised me you would leave her alone!! Erased everyone’s memory, even my memories of her!! Tried to do it to them again, then to her, and after our memories were restored, and tell me that kind of garbage!! Not to me!!’
Handy tries his best to keep him from hurting her, but his anger was barely in control, considering her still remembers the look on Wallflower’s face when she erased all of Sunset’s memories.
‘I don’t care, if you felt like an outcast. I don’t care, if you felt invisible. All I know is, you crossed the line when you tried to hurt her and used everyone like that.’ said Handy. ‘You wanted to prove to anyone that she’s still mean, when she didn’t do anything to you? Well the only mean person I see who caused all this is you. At least she’s tried to turn her life around. What did you do to open yourself up to anyone, I’ll tell you what.’
He then sharply leaned right into her face as he said with a sneer ‘Nothing.’
Things were now getting out of hand, as everyone was appalled by what was happening. Handy then stood back up, grabbed his back and said the most cruelest thing to her. ‘No wonder, dad thought you were such a failure.’
Wallflower was horrified by what he said, then as he stood near the door, he looked to her and said ‘That’s how dad got a heart attack before he died by the way. He didn’t want you to take care of plants because he was deathly allergic to them, but mom and I defended you whilst you were still out. She even made me promise not to tell you just to protect you. But you know what, because of what you did, abusing my trust and hurting Sunset and used her friends along with CHS. I’m done trying to protect you, I’m done sticking my neck out for you when you wanted to do something to make you happy.’
He then grabbed the door handle as he said ‘You mention that nothing you did matter. Well now you don’t matter to me, because your own brother’s feelings and his friends, didn’t matter to you. Good day, Wallflower Blush. You green thumb plant loving freak.’
He sharply opened the door and slammed it shut behind him, with Micro Chips quickly hiding. But as Handy stood still, he was suddenly shocked and nearly fell over, and ended up shedding a tear. For he couldn’t believe he just said that to his own sister. He ended up wiping his tear whilst he walked away.
Back in the office on the other hand, Wallflower was so shocked and horrified by what he said, she ended up shedding tears, sobbing, and cried her eyes out as she placed her hands against her face and dropped on her knees. Fluttershy quickly came over to comfort her, whilst everyone else was shocked that Wallflower’s own brother acted that way.
Even Principle Celestia and Vice-Principle Luna were shocked by what they just witnessed, for despite their bad days that they had been having in their younger days, they never acted this way before. Applejack and Rarity were also shocked, for despite the troubles they sometimes had, along with arguments with their siblings, they never went that far.
Sunset on the other hand…she knew she couldn’t let this lie down. She knew she had to make sure that those two patched things up, even if Handy doesn’t want to accept it, she knew that she had to try. She knew that talking to his mother was out of the question. But then she had an idea. There were a handful that could make him listen, and that would be herself, her friends, along with Celestia and Luna, considering he built such an amazing bond with them. She knew what she had to do.
A good old fashion intervention.
Meanwhile, outside of Canterlot High, near the lighthouse of the beach, sat Handy Helper, holding a coffee he packed in just in case because of how it can be cold sometimes. He sat there pondering, thinking about what he said to Wallflower. The guilt began to eat at him. He made a promise to look after her, but because of his anger, he ended up hurting his sister. He groaned as he placed his head in both his hands, thinking about how he could’ve messed things up so bad between them.
He then realized that he wasn’t alone, which he then said in a hopeless tone ‘What are all of you doing here?’
For right behind him, were Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight, along with her dog Spike. But it wasn’t just them, but both Principle Celestia and Vice-Principle Luna. All of them showing real concern for him. Though he may have taken his anger out on his sister, they could tell that the experience, of both losing his father and also his memories, even if it was temporary, can affect a person’s psyche.
‘You once talked about coming here to clear your head a lot.’ said Spike ‘It wasn’t that hard to figure out where you were.’
‘Handy…’ said Twilight as she tried to speak to him.
‘If you’ve come to yell at me for yelling at my sister, go ahead.’ said Handy ‘I deserve it. I hurt her more than I could’ve imagined. Guess I’m the bigger jerk around here, huh?’
Rarity and Applejack were the first ones to walk over to him and sat next to him on the bench.
‘Yeah, you were.’ said Applejack
‘But you have to understand.’ said Rarity ‘I know Wallflower hurt you, but the poor dear didn’t think straight when she used the stone. Even she didn’t realize the true damage it would’ve caused had you not told her about it.’
Sunset then stood in front of him on her knees as they looked at one another. ‘She was jealous because of my so called popularity.’ said Sunset ‘But I was a different person. Yes, I may have stopped being mean, but Trixie helped me realize I still wasn’t very nice to her, even when I didn’t notice. I was so focused on being with my friends, I barely paid any attention to what I was doing. If anything it was my fault that Wallflower did what she did.’
‘But you’ve changed.’ said Handy as he looked at her ‘You became a different person and you proved that every day.’
‘We know she’s a different person.’ said Principle Celestia as she stood near Handy and placed her hand on his shoulder ‘But after the Fall Formal, everyone had a hard time believing her because of her history. And after the Battle of the Bands, she saved everybody along with her friends.’
‘And after the Friendship Games,’ said Vice-Principle Luna ‘We saw how completely changed she was, even the new wardrobe to prove it. She may have changed, but like any student, she still has a lot to learn. As we all know, no one is perfect, but that doesn’t stop us from trying to prevent mistakes like this to happen again.’
‘But she should’ve just…’ said Handy before he was cut off.
‘She should’ve said something, we know.’ said Fluttershy. ‘But like me, she’s not used to being open to others. She wasn’t good at sharing her feelings or just to be herself. She was afraid to be judged differently, like Rainbow Dash once upon a time.’
‘Hey!!’ said Rainbow Dash. But then she sighed as she said ‘Okay, yeah, she’s right.’
Rainbow then got near him as she said ‘And dude, I know you were hurt and betrayed when she used the stone behind your back and didn’t want to socialize with anyone else at Camp Everfree, but you didn’t have to go all bananas like that.’
‘She’s right.’ said Twilight ‘Siblings make mistakes. And if we don’t realize those kinds of feelings or mistakes, we’ll end up regretting it for the rest of our lives.’
‘You couldn’t possibly understand.’ said Handy as he stood up and stood a few steps towards the rails, overlooking the ocean, and leaning against the rails with his hands on top of them as he looked ahead.
‘Ah understand more than you could imagine Sugarcube.’ said Applejack ‘So do everyone else.’
Rarity stood up and spoke to him first in order to reason with him.
‘Darling,’ said Rarity as she started first ‘About a year ago, Sweetie Belle wanted me to participate with her a the Sisterhood Social. I didn’t want to because I thought it was a waste of time.’
‘And you were a big dumb jerk about it by saying it was uncouth?’ said Handy as he partially looked at her.
Rarity winced, right in the feels, but she knew he was right, for he was one of the special committee that helped put the Social together.
‘Er, right.’ said Rarity ‘But in the end I realized that I only have one sister. One that looked up to me and wanted to spend time with me. I failed to realize that when we grow up, we’ll miss everything we could’ve done together. That, and Applejack reminded me of how selfish I was being. I always took but never give anything.’
She rubbed her arm as she said ‘So much for me being the generous one.’ before Applejack comforted her by gently patting her on the shoulder.
Rainbow spoke next. ‘Look, normally, Scootaloo isn’t my sister, but she looks up to me like I am. Her parents are on the other side of the world doing their jobs and she’s always staying with her aunts, who love her to pieces. But she doesn’t have any siblings that she could spend time with. Sure I was mad at her when she lied to me behind my back, but I could never hate her. Cause I made a promise to both her aunts and her parents that I would look after her. She always feels alone, but I always try to make time to spend time with her when she needed someone the most.’
Applejack spoke next as she stood near him. ‘When ah was about Apple Bloom’s age, ah wanted to prove to mah family ah wanted to run the farm too, but because of Big Mac, ah never get the chance. Because of him, ah ended up lying so much we ended up in the hospital. And Apple Bloom barely wanted to talk to me because ah was overprotective and didn’t want to give her a chance. Even made her humiliate me…’
‘Because of the whole Anon-a-miss ordeal.’ said Handy.
The others were surprised by this, as Pinkie said ‘How did you know about…?’
‘Who do you think convinced the CMC to tell all of you the truth.’ said Handy, which surprised everyone that was present.
Ignoring that and figured they would ask about it later, Applejack continued. ‘But in the end, ah realized that ah had a lot to learn. Ah wasn’t ready to do anything on mah own. Just like Big Mac realized that he should’ve given others a chance to talk and hear them out and that ah should’ve trusted Apple Bloom that she could look after herself. In the end, ah realized that ah lied to myself that ah could do things on my own and not trust Apple Bloom. But in the end, ah tried to make things right. Ah still do. We even tried to make it up to Sunset everyday because of how we treated her when we didn’t remember her.’
Fluttershy spoke next, trying her best not to be silent about this. ‘My own brother may be unbearable, and he is somewhat of an…um…’
‘Disappointment?’ asked Handy, to help her filling in the gap. She winced, but she was glad someone said it instead of herself.
‘Yes,’ said Fluttershy as she continued ‘But I care enough about my brother to help look after him. He may be immature, but he’s also the only sibling I have. Though I wished he would’ve grown up a bit. My point is, sometimes family needs to support one another, no matter how unbearable they might be.’
Celestia was the one to speak next. She let out a sigh, then spoke at her own pace. ‘As you know, my sister and I may be getting along now, but back then when we were younger, we once had a…dark moment that happened between us.’
Luna both winced and shivered at that, remembering her dark episode too. ‘But we made each other realize that despite what happened between us, we were the only family we had left.’
‘So we have to ask.’ said Rainbow Dash, whilst everyone else was thinking the same thing she was ‘Why were you mean to your sister, and defended Sunset so much?’
Handy ended up crossing his arms and looked at the other direction, for it’s not something he wants to talk about. Sunset on the other hand, had an idea.
‘You know what you guys,’ said Sunset as she took a few steps back ‘I think I forgot something back at Applejack’s truck. I’ll be right back.’
Some looked at Sunset whilst she walked away. She then winked at them, and hid around the corner. Not sure what she was up to, focused on Handy.
Handy on the other hand was oblivious to what Sunset was up to. But seeing that she was temporarily out of sight, he decided to shed some light.
‘I was trying to protect Sunset because of what she did for me.’ said Handy. ‘Did you remember when I told you about how I nearly wanted to commit suicide?’
Some were puzzled by his question, but nodded when they wanted to know more, with Sunset listening in.
‘She came to me and helped me see things from a new perspective.’ said Handy. ‘She helped me turn my life around, talked for many hours. She even comforted me. I felt safe. Happy. Happiness that I haven’t felt in years.’
He walked back and forth as he continued. ‘After that day, I chose to go back to school. But I chose CHS because of what my mom told me of how great a place would be. Over the past year that I was there, whenever the school needed repairs, I helped out in any way I could, donated what money I could from my business so that CHS would have anything they could need.’
He slowly smiled as he thought of the moments that Sunset introduced the others to her. ‘That very year, whenever they needed help, Sunset introduced all of you to me. And whenever I helped all of you I…I bonded with all of you. I felt so much love that I thought I could never gain again.’
He then said of what he did for her. ‘And in case all of you wonder, during the last Christmas holiday, when all of you thought that Sunset was Anon a miss, I looked at the website itself. I realized that it wasn’t her, it came from the Apple Family Computer. And Applejack couldn’t have used it because she was having a sleep over with you guys, and it couldn’t have been Big Mac because he slept early. Then there was only one person who could. And that was Apple Bloom.’
They were surprised that he deduced that it was Apple Bloom. ‘Then things had gotten worst when Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo got involved, as well as others who uploaded their videos and secrets on them. So I confronted them and told them of what they did was wrong. They only did all those things because all of them were jealous, but I told them that Sunset didn’t have any family or friends in this world, they were comforting her because she needed help the most. That, and not to mention that they were trying to keep Princess Twilight’s promise.’
They were surprised that he knew about Princess Twilight. ‘Wait,’ said Applejack ‘Y’all know that…?’
‘That all of you got your powers from a land of magical ponies and were helped by a pony princess who needed to stop Sunset from doing something idiotic and made things worse.’ said Handy.
Everyone was stunned by what he said, even Sunset was surprised. They then noticed that he blushed as he rubbed the back of his forehead as he said ‘Whilst I was about to fix the Wondercolt Statue that Principle Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna assigned me to fix, I accidentally fell into the portal to Equestria and met her.’
He cleared his throat, trying to focus on the present. ‘Anyway, I knew she was struggling to find her place in the world. So after I got transferred here, about a month before the Friendship Games started, I went around and used my connections to help her find an apartment so that she would find a better place to sleep in, even made sure that all her rent would be paid up until she graduates. I even went over to that sushi place in the mall and convince the manager there to help give her a job so that she could find a way to make a living, to have balance in her life.’
Now they were greatly surprised, even Sunset.
‘Whoa,’ said Rainbow as she was surprised ‘You did all that for her? Why?’
They could tell that Handy was having a hard time to let it out. Handy kept his arms crossed as he confessed.
‘All that stuff about me wanting to help CHS and the students to be happy, they’re all true. But there was one more…the real, reason.’
He was silent for a few moments, but he looked away as he said ‘I was hoping she would notice.’
Some were puzzled, as Twilight said ‘Notice what?’
However, what they didn’t miss, was the blush on his cheeks. It took them a few seconds, but all of them clicked. They were greatly surprised by what he meant. But none were more surprised than Sunset. She slowly looked away, still having that awe look on her face.
‘So wait, let me get this straight,’ said Applejack ‘You did all of that for her because…?’
‘Yeah,’ said Handy as he turned his back on them, not wanting to look at them, for they could tell he felt ashamed over his previous aggression towards his sister ‘That’s the reason.’
‘Uh, wow.’ said Rainbow as she couldn’t believe it. ‘Just…wow.’
Handy just sighed as he looked at the horizon. ‘But I really screwed up. The two of them made peace. But I was so angry that she betrayed my trust like that, what he did to her without thinking about the consequences.’
Handy walked to the nearest wall and sat against the wall, whilst still keeping his head lowered. ‘I let my anger cloud my judgment. I hurt my sister. How could I be such an idiot?’
Some were silent for a few moments, whilst he kept his head lowered as he shed a tear. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up. He was surprise to see it was Sunset, who gave her own sympathetic smile whilst she crouched.
‘You’re not an idiot Handy.’ said Sunset as she looked at him ‘You were just hurt after your dad passed away. When I somehow helped changed it, you just wanted to protect me. I understand that, but I don’t think it was really nice of you of what you said to her.’
Handy sighed as he looked down with his eyes closed. ‘I know.’
He then looked at her again as he said ‘What do I have to do to fix things.’
‘First of all,’ said Principle Celestia as she came over and crouched next to Sunset ‘You need to go back and apologize to Wallflower. As Rarity said, she wasn’t thinking clearly of the consequences.’
‘After that,’ said Vice Principle Luna as she crouched at Sunset’s left side ‘You two should go to therapy. We know of a doctor that’ll help the two of you set things straight.’
Handy sighed as he looked at them once more ‘If it’ll mean that we can finally find peace. Then so be it. I’ll do anything to fix my mistake.’
Sunset then lightly blushed, then looked at Handy with her smile ‘After that, I’d like to see where this would go. For both of us.’
Handy was surprised as he blushed too. ‘I…I’d like that.’
Sure enough, they helped him stand up. Sure enough, the lot of them walked away from the lighthouse to return to their homes. Once they were, Handy would get a chance to apologize to his sister, and hopefully, be at peace too.
Accepting the hand of Fate
The next day, at CHS, everything seemed to be back to normal. However, Micro Chips was busy taking a peek, looking at something that caught his attention. He seemed to be staring out there for a while, until…
‘Micro Chips?’
He turned around and saw it was Sunset and the others.
‘Darling, what are you doing here?’ asked Rarity.
‘See for yourself.’ said Micro Chips.
All of them were taking a peek at what he was staring at. For right outside, was Principle Celestia, Vice-Principle Luna and what appeared to be a therapist, talking to both Handy and Wallflower. The both of them looking down, quite distraught and distressed. Both of them felt uncomfortable, but they could tell that they were trying to make up for what both of them did, especially Handy.
‘Who’s that with them?’ asked Applejack when she pointed at the therapist, seeing that she never saw her before.
‘That’s Psyche Analyst,’ said Micro Chips ‘She’s an old friend of Celestia’s family. She helped solve a problem between her and Luna a long time ago, so they asked her to come along to try and sort things out between Handy and Wallflower.’
‘Psyche Analyst?’ said Rainbow Dash, seeing that she never heard of her.
‘Duh,’ said Pinkie Pie as she said ‘Only one of Canterlot City’s most prestigious therapist of all time.’
‘Oh, I heard of her,’ said Fluttershy ‘She won a handful of awards for helping out the most troubled patients and clients with the most troubled trauma and past.’
‘Oh yeah,’ said Sunset as she remembered her ‘I remember her. I went to see her a while back.’
They looked at Sunset surprised whilst Rainbow said ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you went to see a therapist?’
Sunset was embarrassed to say anything, but quickly waved it off as she said ‘I went to see her after the Battle of the Bands,’ said Sunset ‘I had a hard time trying to move on from my past, so she told me that there is a way to get past it.’
‘Like what?’ asked Twilight ‘What did she say that helped you?’
‘She asked me if I had friends and I said yes.’ said Sunset ‘She told me that having friends and spending as much time with them as you could is the best medicine to treat my problems. I took that lesson to heart.’
She then looked down with a sad expression on her face as she said ‘Though I wished I paid more attention about the people around me. If I did, Wallflower wouldn’t have done what she did.’
Twilight placed her hand on Sunset’s shoulder, with her own sympathetic smile. ‘Sunset. Not everyone can be perfect. You taught me that a long time ago after I transferred here. You couldn’t have known. Like you said, you were focused on your friends and you tried to make up for your mistakes every day.’
‘I wonder,’ said Rainbow Dash as she looked at the siblings from afar ‘You said that Handy said that everyone, even us, were able to forgive you gave you another chance. I wonder why Wallflower couldn’t have done the same?’
‘I guess some things are just too hard to forgive.’ said Applejack.
‘But I didn’t even do anything to her,’ said Sunset as she looked at them ‘I didn’t even know or see her until I met her before your memories were erased.’
‘I think I know the feeling,’ said Fluttershy ‘When you were one the school bully she must’ve been so afraid of you she chose to be invisible because she didn’t want to get hurt. But after you changed, she waited the chance for you to notice her. But I guess she gave up after the Battle of the Bands.’
‘Still, I wish I could make up for what I did.’ said Sunset.
‘You already did,’ said Fluttershy as she spoke to her with her kind smile ‘You forgave her for what she did and helped her see things in a different light. You even became her friend and made sure everyone knew about her. Even though there were people that were cruel, everyone deserves a little kindness.’
Twilight then looked at Handy ‘But still, I wonder why he didn’t tell us about his dad that passed away.’
‘He didn’t want to talk about it.’ said Applejack whilst she looked down ‘Believe me, ah know that better than most. And having your memory erased of the one person who helped you and make friends being taken away. It was so precious to him he didn’t want to lose them. Ah would’ve been angry too if something like that ever happened to me.’
‘But there was also the fact what he said that took us all by surprise,’ said Rarity. She then looked at Sunset as she said ‘That he did all that for you.’
Rainbow couldn’t help but chuckle as she lightly elbowed Sunset ‘Guess you did more than just save and comfort him that day, huh?’
‘Rainbow Dash!!’ said Rarity, scolding her over Rainbow’s insensitive remark.
‘What? I’m just saying.’ said Rainbow whilst she tried to defend herself.
They then saw Celestia and Luna coming forward, whilst the therapist continued with both Handy and Wallflower. The eight of them stood normally near Celestia, wanting to know how they were doing.
‘How are they doing Principle Celestia and Vice-Principle Luna?’ asked Micro Chips.
‘Their problems are…’ said Celestia as she almost trailed off, but kept her focus as she continued. ‘Are not something that can fix with just a few words.’
‘It turned out that Handy’s problems and the things he went through damaged his psyche.’ said Vice-Principle Luna ‘He was distraught after the passing of his father. But the damage of his memories being taken away had an even deeper effect on him.’
‘So they won’t get any better?’ asked Applejack.
‘Psyche Analyst said that they need to come over to her every week to help them with their situation.’ said Principle Celestia ‘But she estimates that with them in her care, they’ll be able to get past their differences and grievances within the week.’
‘Oh, I just hope that they will be able to forgive each other.’ said Fluttershy as she was somewhat worried.
‘I hope so too.’ said Rarity ‘The two dears have been through enough already.’
‘I’m sure they will.’ said Vice-Principle Luna as she reassured them.
One week later
At Canterlot City Park, Handy was sitting on a bench, watching the ducks quack and go by in the middle of the lake. His thoughts clearly on something else. He felt a presence coming towards him. He looked to his right and saw Sunset coming. She soon sat next to him whilst they looked out at the lake together.
‘Hey.’ said Sunset as she partially looked at him.
‘Hey.’ said Handy, barely looking at her.
‘So uh…how are things going with your family?’ asked Sunset ‘Any progress?’
‘Some of it.’ said Handy as he kept looking at the area in front of him. ‘We’re still talking, but the pain is still kind of there. We’ll need to go through a couple of more sessions, but we’ll get over it in time. Plus our mother is being released from the mental hospital.’
‘Really?’ said Sunset as she looked at Handy surprised.
‘Yeah, she made a full recovery after two years.’ said Handy ‘Apparently losing the love of her life like that because of their argument, not to mention when she suddenly blamed herself for something that was beyond her control. It took a huge toll on her.’
‘I can imagine.’ said Sunset whilst she looked down ‘I haven’t seen my mother in years ever since I left Equestria and came here.’
‘And you found a home after that?’ asked Handy.
‘Huh?’ asked Sunset as she looked at him.
‘Think about it,’ said Handy ‘Do you feel like you belong in this world and don’t feel like an outsider here, or back home?’
She didn’t know how to respond. She thought about it for a moment, then was able to speak the moment she figured it out.
‘Well,’ said Sunset when she came up with her answer ‘Truth be told I don’t know. When I first came here, I became a bully because I wanted everything. I ruled the school, even turned into a literal demon monster and wanted to control the students to have an army to take over Equestria when I stole Princess Twilight’s crown.’
She looked down for a bit ‘But after the whole ordeal, I regretted for what I did. Princess Twilight convinced them to give me another chance. They helped me every step of the way, I even helped gain their trust and they trusted me. I was happy to have friends, but I was scared to lose them, and nobody else wanted to give me another chance despite me trying to make up for it.’
She then looked up with a smile on her face ‘I was so happy that I was accepted by everybody at the school. They all forgave me, and I even tried to spend as much time as I could with my friends, to make it memorable, even when Twilight transferred from Crystal Prep to Canterlot High.’
She then crossed her arms as she looked ahead ‘But I never thought about it that far. At first, I did think about going back to Equestria after I graduated, to be back home and spend some time with my former teacher, even Princess Twilight.’
She then frowned and looked away ‘But on the other hand, I don’t want to leave my friends. I know that all of them have lives of their own and they have their own future planned, but I couldn’t bear to go one minute without feeling alone again. That I want to stay in this world, find a job and try to spend as much time as I can with my friends.’
‘Well they say that home is where the heart is,’ said Handy ‘But the ones that truly help make you feel home are the people you spend your time with.’
‘I suppose so.’ said Sunset with a somber smile. ‘It’s just that after the others became my friends, I made a promise to myself that I would protect them no matter what.’
‘You should tell them how you really feel.’ said Handy. ‘They’ll never know how much you really mean to them if you don’t be more honest with them, I mean it is what Applejack taught you after all.’
‘I…I don’t know.’ said Sunset, whilst she felt nervous at the same time. ‘Maybe someday.’
‘Just don’t wait too long.’ said Handy.
They were silent for a few moments as they stared out at the lake. Sunset then held Handy’s hand, making him look at her.
‘Did you…’ started Sunset as she stared at him ‘Did you really feel that way about me?’
Handy was silent for a moment, then looked at her and said ‘Yes.’
He looked at the lake as he said ‘Ever since you saved me that day, all I ever wanted was to thank you for what you did for me. I didn’t know how to say it at first. But every time whenever I’m around you, or whenever I look at you. I feel a part of me that’s healed. Fixed even. That you’re the reason I keep going when I lost faith in myself.’
He then looked at her again ‘I did all those things for you because I wanted to help you. Because you helped me. The very person, whenever I see the sunset, I think of the most warm, radiant and beautiful person who did more than just heal my soul. You healed my heart. And I learned to love again.’
Sunset couldn’t help but blush at that remark. She then kissed him on the cheek, which surprised Handy as he blushed, for it felt enjoyable.
‘Thank you.’ said Sunset as a smile formed on her face.
They were silent for a few moments, as Handy said ‘Do you think…we can give us a chance?’
Sunset thought about it, then looked at Handy as she said ‘Keep working on trying to make things right with Wallflower. And after that, we can try.’
‘That’s all I ever wanted.’ said Handy.
The two of them continued to hold each other’s hands as they stared out at the lake, enjoying the rest of the day before they had to go back.
Author's Note
And there you have it, though you have the right reason, we will hurt someone in the end. All we can do, is try to make things right, and in the end, it'll be worth it.